We ran into the folks at Lemons Headers at the 2025 SEMA Show, where it unveiled its super-trick adjustable engine mounts. These allow you to move your engine around just enough to make header fitment a breeze, even in the most unusual of circumstances. At PRI 2025, Lemons Headers had John Schiavone’s insane 1969 Camaro on display in its booth, and the simple audacity of it all made us want to feature it immediately.
Let’s face facts: It’s not every day you come across a purple pearl Camaro that’s loud enough to make Prince blush, and bold enough with 615 inches of big-block Chevy power to make the purists drool.
John’s from outside Chicago and, naturally, the 615-inch Rat employs Lemons headers to help it breathe. The headers are 2 ¼-inch primaries with 4-inch slip on collectors underneath. When assembling the F-body, John called Lemons with the engine specs and told them what he was going to use the car for, and Lemons set up its fixture at the shop and did the rest. The resulting headers fit perfectly. The intake is a Reher-Morrison piece bolted to Air Flow Research heads.
“When it comes down to Chevrolets, if it is an old style that’s bone stock, we have a header for it,” said Taylor King of Lemons Headers. “Or if you have a 400-plus inch small-block that needs a 2.5-inch primary, we’ll have that too. We’re OK with big-block Chevys and can go from a stock one up to a 2-inch raised exhaust port without your car at all.”
Everything under the tall cowl hood is polished and there are billet hinges to hold said hood up.
It has 22-inch-wide Mickey Thompson Sportsman SR meats on the rear on 20-inch rims. The wheels were custom made by Billet Specialties. Up front are 18-inch Mickeys.
The interior and trunk areas are as clean and beautiful as the exterior. The interior is slathered in soft saddle leather, with custom bucket seats, a console (with a B&M shifter) and a one-off gauge cluster. The same color material is used in the boot.
When you get right down to it, there seems to be no end in sight for the 1969 Chevy Camaro. There are new bodies being built today and a never ending way to build them. Pro Street, Pro Touring, Resto-Mod, slightly modified, or 100 percent restored to original, there is no wrong way. Perhaps that is why every generation is attracted to it.
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